1479/Hunting Mutants but finding the wrong kind

Hunting Mutants but finding the wrong kind
Date of Scene:	02 May 2020
Location:	East Side
Synopsis:	Anti-mutant protesters attack the Null Group's soda storage warehouse based on terrible internet conspiracy theories, find more than they bargined for.
Cast of Characters:	Leena Danvers, Sally Pride, Alopex, Kainashi

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Leena Danvers has posed:
A couple of nights ago, a seemingly innoculous Null Group warehouse supposedly housing their Null Cola product was attacked by a large group of MOUSER robots tied to one Baxter Stockman. While the robots were defeated by Spider-Man, Artemis, Michelangelo and Ballista, the motive for the attack remains unknown.

Because of the attack, however, Ballista has found herself stuck at the warehouse in the event of another attack. Stockman isn't known for giving up because of a setback, after all. Little does she know, however, that a sizable group of rather upset citizens have been reading online about how Null Cola causes mutations in children and they don't like mutants so their loudmouthed idiot leader who recently said online that he'd eat his neighbors has worked them up into a frenzy. They're on their way in several pickup trucks to protest...Or possibly wave guns around and threaten the employees of the warehouse.

Sally Pride has posed:
To be honest Sally would not be surprised if Null was putting something 'extra' in their soda brand, though she would expect it to be more along the lines of additives to induce stronger addiction or such. More junkies means more money to spend on their more sinister shadowy projects.

But that's not why she was here. That was just going to be bad timing.

She was here because of the previous attack. Someone else had beef with Null Group, and had both the tech and desire to get after whatever was really in that warehouse. The little crew of rebel rousers she worked with wanted to know how, and why.

So here was, lying stomach down on a different warehouse roof, watching the site with a pair of night vision binocs she'd picked up at a military surplus shop. A frown creased her lips as she spotted a certain raptor prowling around the grounds as well. "That figures," she mutters in a growl under her breath.

Oh well, she was just here to observe, not pick a fight. Or so that's the plan.

You know how long plans actually hold together.

Leena Danvers has posed:
The raptor reaches one hand up to her ear, or at least where an ear should be, as a communication comes in, <Ballista we've got a report of potential hostiles incoming. Head to the front gate but stay hidden until we confirm.>

The raptor sighs, and hoofs it up towards the front of the warehouse, the chainlink fence with barbed wire where there's a single guard shack, recently repaired after the MOUSER attack. The guard looks a bit nervous, and about five trucks full of folks wearing tactical gear and carrying rifles and handguns stop in front of the warehouse. Several of them have signs, protesting about Null Cola mutating their kids.

Anyone who watches the news would recognize a couple of their slogans as coming directly from the Friends of Humanity talking points. Ballista rolls her eyes from where she's at. At least at the moment, despite all the guns and gear, they seem content to just yell at the security guard.

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride watchs Ballista bolt for the front gate. Something must of come up. Better find out what.

As she's trying to remain unnoticed but is hardly a ninja Sally has to slink rather slowly to the other end of the rooftop, and by the time she's there and hunkers back down she doesn't need the binoculars to see what's going on. Oh, great. There's herds of them. Well, protestors aren't her problem to deal with, and Null deserves to be yelled at for their shit anyways. Though maybe she could use the oppritunity to sneak a closer loo--

The lioness pauses, squints, and then brings up the binoculars again to get a closer look at the picket signs.

--"Son of a bitch." Tail gave a lash as she frowned. This could turn into something ugly after all. Neither group was one that she particularly wished to deal with... though leaving them at each other's throats isn't going to do much good either...

Leena Danvers has posed:
Ballista is only half paying attention to what is being said, stuff about mutagen in the drinks and whatever. Yeah right, if that was the case their kids would probably look like her.

The ringleader doesn't seem satisfied, however, "There's only one guard, lets get him!" The man yells, pointing at the security guard, who goes for the alarm button, but is tackled by several of the guys, who start to lay into him.

Multiple others push past him, through the gate and into the warehouse grounds proper. Well, not like she can stay hidden anymore. Ballista steps out from behind where she's hiding, "Hey folks, this is private property. So leave, or I'll deal with you. Harshly."

"It's a monster, kill it!" Yells one of the protestors, raising his assault rifle up and firing a few shots at Ballista. Several of the others quickly follow suit, sending the raptor scrambling.

Sally Pride has posed:
... That's some pretty high end firepower for a bunch of mutant-hating protestors...

Okay, getting firearms out of the hands of idiots who are only going to hurt themselves and others with them is something her conscience can deal with indirectly possibly helping another foe over. Enemy of my enemy or something else faux philosophical Ray would say if he was here. While Hobb would just say to 'be indiscriminant' which is why she's not going to call the crew for backup.

"She's still probably going to try and catch me later, but whatever." Sally pulls out her stun blasters, turns it up to the highest setting to make sure the charge holds out over the distance, and takes a shot at one of rifle weilders to get some of the pressure off Ballista. Enemy or not she's got a better chance of dealing with heavy weaponry than the human mook guards.

Then the lioness vaults the edge of the rooftop and down to the ground level, to not be in the same spot her shot came from by the time anyone looked.

Though it's probably no surprise she's got her eyes on the trucks the horde of haters showed up in.

Alopex has posed:
    Null Corp: Boo. Sally Pride: Yay! Friends of Humanity: Boo! Smokebombs: ...Yay?

Who in their right mind throws SMOKE BOMBS on private property when there's a protest slash riot going on? A ninja who had been trailing the protest from where it had been gathering. The fox was on patrol, noticed the people moving together, recognized the slogans, heaved a sigh, and decided to find out just what was happening.

    On one hand, she was nearly content to just let these two factions hammer it out with one another, but there's just something about seeing guns pulled, a frightened security guard having boots put to him, and the comotion that follows shortly after. "Ugh, whatever.." is muttered just before the bombs are tossed from.. somewhere.

        *PAFF-hsssssssssssssssssssssssssss*

    In the confusion brought on by lack of vision, some of the protestors simply vanish. Signs end up broken. One more burly, loud, and obnoxious individual gives a loud grunt as the familiar sound of fist violently meeting face is heard, sending him spinning to the ground in the cloud of grey. Sally may know who showed up. Maybe. Depends on if she met the rainbow boys yet.

Kainashi has posed:
    Null: BAD. Sally Pride: GOOD. Friends of Humanity: ... bad? Smokebombs: GO TIME!

    It's rare that the Dumb Dog follows Alopex onto patrols, but tonight just felt like a good night -- and she had given The Eyes to Alopex, knowing people were in danger, the Canine wanted to act. She had a heart big enough for the whole city.

    There's the sound of something lightly grinding, and a few yelps as armed protesters find themselves bured in trash cans from around the corner and sent crashing into one another, a low shadow making her way along the armed and confused protesters -- one going sailing up beyond the smoke cloud and into a nearby dumpster!

Leena Danvers has posed:
The protestors, if you want to call them that, were not expecting to get attacked from behind and the sides. The guy that gets stunned by Sally goes down, twitching and squirming before he goes out. Several others get punched, kicked, and hurled through the air inside of the smokescreen.

From behind cover, the raptor growls. Shooting these folks, while that would make her feel better, would look bad if the cops investigate. She pulls out her revolver, and then unloads it, slotting in tranq rounds instead. She rolls out from behind cover and fires her revolver at the closest hostile, knocking him off his feet and out cold by the time he hits the ground.

As far as those trucks go, they're big, lifted pickup trucks. And someone left the keys in one like an idiot.

Sally Pride has posed:
Smoke bombs? No complaint, it makes it easier for Sally to sneak up to the trucks with that adding to the confusion.

She pulls the driver door open all ready to do a little hotwiring... Only to find it isn't necessary. "Idiots." But in her favor as she jumps into the cab and pulls the door shut. Grabs the keys, revs the ignition and steps on the gas to make the engine rev. Loud enough to make her ears slick back. Someone did not have proper exhaust work on their truck. Crissakes.

Sally shifts, backing the truck up, and by this point it's probably starting to get some attention. Good. "As much as I hate to do this to a ride..."

Of course, as much of zealot assholes as these people may be, just running them down would be just fanning their fires.

Instead she shifts back into forward, and stomps the throttle hard. The truck lurches forward again in a burst of motion, as she aims it to sideswipe one of the other trucks and just up the damage level to the protestors' stuff.

Alopex has posed:
    Plenty are going down, the smoke is starting to disperse, and quick blurrs of white may be seen by raptor, lion, and the protesters. ... Well, maybe not so much the protesters. The fox is actively trying to keep to cover, to the remaining smoke, and the shadows, as she helps people take some extended naps.

    At a point when the smoke has cleared, the fox goes quiet and still, standing in a secluded spot, trying to get an idea of just how many of them are left, if there's a leader and ......... how much damage Sally is about to do...

Kainashi has posed:
    Aah, but while the Fox is at rest, the scarred-up pitbull is doing some wrecking of her own. One truck is side-swiped. The other?

    Kainashi gives a growl, eher eyes narrowing as she slips beneath it -- and then THROWS the truck. The truck sails up into the air, its alarm going off in a most alarmed state, its lights flashing, horn crying out as it sails through the air (with plenty of alarm) and crashes into a handy concrete barrier, bending in a rough U-shape before the black-clad rednose makes her way behind anothe rhandy car, her tail a-wagging at the wanton destruction of jerk property!

Leena Danvers has posed:
"Hey my truck!" That would be the guy that's the leader. Anyone who's been on the internet recently would recognize him from some of his rants, no doubt. He starts chasing after Sally on foot, though the guy's about 120 pounds overweight, so he's not going to make it too far.

The others are down and out, or slowly trying to crawl away from the guard shack. The guard himself has managed to finally hit the alert button, and this time the cops are actually on their way, since this is two nights in three days that the alarm has gone off here.

Ballista fires another shot, hitting one of the attackers in the neck, and then leaps on top of a third, pinning him down and getting right in his face, with all those teeth, "EVERYBODY STOP!" She roars out, now that the smoke has cleared, as she presses her revolver to the middle of the guy's forehead.

The truck that was thrown into the air smashes to the ground in the silence as the fighters, the few that are still standing, stop what they're doing. The silence is eery, save for the rapidly retreating truck driven by Sally and the fat guy huffing and puffing after her, "You all are leaving. NOW. Take your wounded, and get out of here, or I swear to whatever deity you believe in that I'm going to eat this guy's face."

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride actually pauses a moment, having to lean out the window to make sure she actually heard/saw that right. Ballista actually showing some restraint?... Or at least realizing just shooting protestors, mutant hating tresspassers or not, would be a Bad For PR(tm).

"I'd do what she says. You're lucky she stopped to ask."

Then Sally puts the truck back into gear, pulls a super-tight reverse U-y to get it facing the proper direction, and motors on out of there.

The zealots can cram into the remaining trucks for all she cares. Serves the lot of them right.

Also note to self: Do Not Make Kainashi Mad.

Alopex has posed:
    There's a grunt and a sigh from Alopex. That's not helping, girl. They'll just put that on TV and spin it six different ways. ... Granted that won't be so bad if it puts a hole in Null's PR boat, but it won't help other mutate's reputations at all. Meh. Can't win with these kind of people, really. That's what she's been learning, anyway. For now, the fox will just keep watching.

Kainashi has posed:
    There's a low, familiar growl from off to Ballista's side, Kainashi might not have agreed with the 'eating faces' part of the statement. Her ears are slid back in aggression, her hackles raised as the scarred-up face of the pitbull snarls at raptor. She's taking a step closer as if to intercede on the protest leader's behalf, dark eyes narrowed and all of her teeth bared.

    Also, she just threw a truck. She's probably not in the best of moods!

Leena Danvers has posed:
Most of the attackers, upon realizing they're beaten, grab their friends who have been scattered around and take them back to the damaged trucks. The leader changes directions and chases after Sally and his truck but eventually gives up, "We have to.." He takes a few heavy breaths, "Not let them win!" He holds up one hand as he tries to catch his breath, while Ballista looks up at him, and then back at the guy she's pinning down, letting him up, though keeping her weapon trained on him.

"Well, tick tock." The sound of police sirens can be heard, getting closer by the moment. The security guard is also on his radio calling for backup from Null, so no doubt their own security forces will be on hand soon. Perhaps it's time for the anti-mutant protestors to decide that discretion is the better part of valor.

Ballista can hear the growling coming from Kainashi, and she turns to face the canine mutant, "Do you really wanna do this now?!" She calls out, not sure where the mutt is but knowing she's nearby.

Sally Pride has posed:
Once she's several blocks away and sure none of the protestors decided to follow her instead of helping the people they got stupidly injured Sally pulls the truck into an alley.

It's New York, it takes a while to find an alley that a jacked up pick-up will actually fit. She's not dumb enough to drive a technically stolen vehicle all over the city, especially when the cops are going to be looking for it eventually.

What she will do is take any of the weapons left in it. Normally she'd try to jack more, but she neither has the time, or the desire to handle much of those zealots' stuff beyond getting dangerous weapons away from them. Ew.

She also slashes the tires with her claws, just to make sure the asshole has to pay to have the thing towed once it's found.

She's a cat. Petty spite comes naturally.

Alopex has posed:
    From her hidden position, Alopex can see everything going on. The scattering protesters, Sally's words, Ballista's ultimatum, but Kai's anger causes concern. "KAI!" is barked out, "That's enough!" she insists, standing, getting ready to move for the canine if she has to. ... Hopefully Sally will be alright. Didn't even have a chance to talk this time.

Kainashi has posed:
    The growling halts, and the ninja canine slinks away -- just a flash of black and red over a barrier, in the corner of Ballista's vision before the ninja's gone -- circling back around the area and popping up near Alopex. She gives a huff, and a soft sneeze into her elbow before muttering: "She'll eat his face." -- in her own defense.

Leena Danvers has posed:
Ballista lets the last of the guys go, and then just in time too as the cops are showing up. The raptor vanishes into the warehouse proper as the cops arrest the remaining protestors, and begin to ask the security guy what was going on.

Meanwhile inside of the building, Ballista checks in, "Yeah. Had some unexpected help but the research lab is safe. Honestly I don't know why you guys keep an advanced robotics lab under a soda warehouse, but you'll probably want to move everything with how many times it's been hit in the last few days." She pauses for a second, "Roger. I'll stay on site until the clean up crew shows."

Alopex has posed:
    "I was giving her the benefit of the doubt since it is their turf," Alopex asides as the canine arrives beside her. When the raptor lets the last of the men go, and turns back into the warehouse, she gives a nod. "For once, she did the right thing. ... I don't expect it to happen -every- time though.."

Kainashi has posed:
    Kainashi gives her head a shake, her ears flapping about and showing that cruel kanji tatooed inside her left ear.

    "I trust her about as far as I can throw the Statue of Liberty." she states plainly, dropping the 'Dumb Dog' act for a little bit with Alopex. She draws her ears up, canting her head to the side.

    "They're bringing ambulences, too. We should get get out --" she states, turning "... in case they bring a K9 unit."